House of Af Ehjnhelm
House of af Ehjnhelm is one of the oldest Darnussian noble families that was born during the reign of the Narikaton City-States in the City-State of Merenbürg. The Af Ehjnhelm family has held various noble titles during the Kingdom of Darnussia, Imperia Narikaton, United Republic and the Empire of Narikaton and Darnussia. History Early history First official writings that mention the Af Ehjnhelm family can be traced back to the 3rd century Merenbürg, as the name, although just mere Ehjnhelm without the "Af" prefix, has been carved into a stone pilar found from the old town central that was caved up in the archeological dig of Narik University back in 2414. The pilar itself was a list of families who had the exclusive right to trade within the city, while it is believed that others were forced to trade outside the wooden palisade that surrounded the northern parts of the city on the Isle Mere, located in the middle of the modern Merenbürg. It is believed that the Ehjnhelm family was one of the wealthiest families in the 3rd century Merenbürg and possibly one of the families that had decided to build the future metropolis in the first place. The family was raised to nobility by the Pagan Priests of the town somewhere in the beginning of the 4th century and were constantly part of the power struggle among the Merenbürg Families that also included Af Klempt and later, also Af Equidis. The "Af" prefix was awarded to most infleuntial families by the High Priests, and they were considered to be the birth of the Official Narikatonite Nobility. Af Klempt was the ruling family of Merenbürg from 160's to the early 300's, when they were first sidelined by the Af Equidis family. Early writings, mainly from trade taxation and regulation, show an decrease on the Af Klempt trade revenue following the 320, which is believed to have been the result of their loss of leadership. It also started the rise of the Af Ehjnhelm family. Helmut Af Ehjnhelm, born sometime in the early 300's, is widely considered to be the founding father of the family, even though the later historians have found much edvidence that the family history began atleast hundred years earlier. Helmut was able to gain influence with his trade monopoly over certain goods such as fur and tar, which eventually led to him marrying one of the daughters of the Af Equidis family. In 354, Helmut was appointed as the Noble Governor of Merenbürg, which eventually gave him the rule over the peasant army of the city-state. However it was common on those days that all notable families had their own armies, but the position made him the most powerfull man on the entire island. To expand his monopoly over the trademarket, he eventually decided to attack Torchvan, a near city-state known for their militaristic nature. The short offence, known in Merenbürg simply as The Short War, was a disaster. Helmut was forced to return Merenbürg with a bitter defeat and he was ridiculed for it by the rival families who had refused to lend their private armies to the attack as they had no intentions of helping Helmut gain even more power over the trade of southern Narikaton. The war however affected the relations between Torchvan and Merenbürg, which affected the trade revenues of the families. They turned to the priests who laid a curse on Helmut, declaring him a carrier of misfortune, which effectively made him an easy target as the Nariki Pagan Traditions made it extremely easy to kill and murder someone who brought bad luck to the commune. Helmut was killed by angry peasants in 364, and he was presumably 42 years old. The Af Equidis family regained the position of Noble Governor of Merenbürg, but the Af Ehjnhelm family was allowed to hold their nobility by the High Priests. The rising influence of Narik however was starting to effect the trade of Merenbürg and the Noble Governor called the armies to arms yet again in 372. This time all noble families of Merenbürg except the Af Ehjnhelms answered the call and they faced the Narik Armies in a bitter war, which resulted in another loss. During the campaign, the Torchan Armies had planned to attack and invade Merenbürg. The Af Ehjnhelm Family and their personal army was the only one left in the city and the defence was relied on them and peasants who had no real military training. While the Noble Governor was fighting a war in the north, the High Priests made Marcus Af Ehjnhelm, the grandson of Helmut, the Praetor of Merenbürg, the highest military rank that was created for just this occasion. The Praetor was able to lead the vivid Merenbürg Forces to a great victory. When the Noble Governor returned from his disasterous campaign, people were already chanting for the praetor. When the head of the Af Equidiss family died in 382, Marcus, now 28 years old, requested the position of Noble Governor for himself. When the High Priests refused this, Marcus ordered his forces to capture and kill the priests, effectively ending their political influence in Merenbürg. Title of Praetor became the sole leader of the city-state while the Noble Governor remained under him as his liege, which was awarded to the Af Klempt Family to strengthen the power of the Praetor Marcus. Praetors of Merenbürg Praetor Marcus' reign ended in 409 following his death, and his brothers son, Salas Af Ehjnhelm, became the new Praetor. Praetor Salas was known for his magnificent parties and orgies and he was widely considered to be extremely corrupt. His bad eye for trade and business backfired at Merenbürg, effectively cutting down their share of the trade market. Salas' reign was also a great factor in the rise of Narik, the rival city-state that had been founded by the tribal leaders who were evicted by the merchant families of Merenbürg in the 2nd century. Narik's plan to expand their hemisphere started with an all-out assault against Merenbürg. Their armies burned villages on theri way to the city, but Salas did nothing to stop them. It led to the siege of Merenbürg which lasted for 12 years, ending in 432, when the Narik forces withdrew. Merenbürg was at that time so large city that it was impossible for the Narik Forces to completely siege it, making it more than possible to bring supplies with ships. Salas locked himself to his own island where the Praetor's Palace was located, known in the modren Merenbürg as Old Harbour. He was killed by his own son, Furius, who also claimed the title of Praetor after he had eliminated his three older brothers only year before the end of the siege. Praetor Furius was only 18 years old when he became the leader of the city-state. The reign of Praetor Furius was a reign of terror in Merenbürg. Many notable noble families were completely annhilated, and only two were spared, the Af Equidis and the Af Klempt. The siege had seriously harmed the position of Merenbürg as the leading trade city in southern Narikaton and it was replaced by Öster, which greatly angered Furius. He made it clear to his two lieges that he wanted an army that was capable to invade Torchvan prepared in five years as he intended to unite the two city-states under his banner. Furius' first attack against Torchvan ended in a stalemate. He was able to reach the city after destroying the Torchvan Army in two consecutive battles, but was not able to invade the city and was forced to return to Merenbürg because of the fear of Narik Invasion. His second attempt in 2450 was much more succesfull as he was able to siege the city for 5 years before he had to withdraw back to Merenbürg. He was frustrated with the situation, as he could not attack either rivial cities due to the fear of attack from the other. He made an agreement with the Ansest Dynasty that they would attempt to conquer Narik together, but Furius knew that they had no chances against the strongest of the city-states and he only used the Ansestians as a tool to keep Narik and the north busy while he aimed for Merenbürg haegemony in south. His third campaign against Torchvan in 463 was succesfull as his plan worked and the Ansestians attacked Narik believeing that they would soon be joined by the Merenbürg armies. Torchvan was conquered in 464 and Furius appointed the House of Strommdor as it's leaders as the other families rivaling for the leadership of Torchvan had escaped from the city, and as such, considered to be traitors and cowards by the Torchvanians. House of Strommdor had been the only Torchvanian family that had stayed in the city when they had seen the Merenbürg Army that poets of the time called one of the largest ever drafted in Narikaton. Furius died in 469 and was followed to the position of Praetor by his grandson, Petr the Failure, as Petr's father had fallen in the third campgaing against Torchvan. Later generations gave Petr him the moniker "The Failure" for his failed attack against the Öster in 504, which also costed Petr his life. Praetor Petr was the last leader of Merenbürg to carry the title, as his follower and his cousin, Rikhard Af Klempt already held the position of Noble Governor. He decided to use his old title for his entire reign. Petr's reing also ended nearly one hundred years of Af Ehjnhelm rule in Merenbürg. The Hundred Years of War The 6th century is known to later generations as The Hundred Years of War due to the fact that there was continuous warfare going on in Narikaton from 545 to 660 without a single day of peace. The Af Ehjnhelm family took part in the Great Narik-Merenbürg War as lieges of the Noble Governor. The Af Ehjnhelm armies were commanded first by Marcus Af Ehjnhelm II, who was killed in 549 and later by Nicolas Af Ehjnhelm, who was slain in 556. When the Noble Governor became Earl of Merenbürg in 560, after the war with Narik had ended in Merenbürg victory, House of Af Ehjnhelm was awarded the title of Baron. Baron Sirius Af Ehjnhelm participated in the bloody war against the city of Öster to help Merenbürgs allies from Torchvan, which however ended in defeat of the Merenbürg and Torchvan forces in 571. Sirius later participated in the dangerous attempt to attack Marcele, which backfired and nearly everyone, Sirius included, were ambushed and killed by Narik forces. The Second Great Narik-Merenbürg War was fought in 582, and the Merenbürg forces were nearly able to defeat the defenders of Narik as the Narik Armies were involved in the war against Ansest. Baron Ludovik Af Ehjnhelm led the siege of Narik. The outcome of the war was a political disaster for Merenbürg though, because it created the Ansest-Narik Alliance, a great power-block of the North. In 595, after the Ansest and Narik Invasion of Marcele, The War for Narikaton Hegemony erupted between Ansest-Narik Alliance and Merenbürg-Torchvan Union. Baron Ludovik was slain in the war, as was his follower and son, Baron Henrik Af Ehjnhelm. During the course of the war, the only direct heir of the Af Klempt Family was taken hostage by the Narik Forces. Instead of submitting into their requests, Af Ehjnhelm's and Af Equidis' agreed that the house of Af Ehjnhelm shall take over the Earldom of Merenbürg. Baron Simon Af Ehjnhelm became Earl of Merenbürg in 617. He was able to end the bloody war in stalemate in 623, which gave Merenbürg some time of peace as the Ansest-Narik Alliance aimed to take over Öster, but failed like everyone else before them. The War of Torchvan began in 630 when the other nobles tried to dethrone Lord Strommdor, who called for help from Merenbürg. Earl Simon sent the Merenbürg Armies to assist their allies and they were victorious. Torchvan was retaken in 633, the same year Simon decided to try to capture Marcele from the Ansestians, which led to the Marcele War that was fought between 633-660. Simon died during the siege of Marcele in 639 and was followed by Earl Marcus Af Ehjnhelm III, who finally in 657 aproached the other factions involved in the war to sue for peace. Merenbürg had achieved a great victory as they had liberated Marcele from Ansestian Rule, and they had no interest in continuing the bloody and expensive war against the North while their most important enemies in Öster were becoming richer and richer. A ceasefire occured in 659 and Pax Narikaton became reality in 660. Leaders of all notable noble families from both sides formed The Council of Eleven Houses that was supposed to maintain the Pax Narikaton. Every city-states with the exception of Öster were invited to join the council. Pax Narikaton